Congress is a secular party whose social liberal platform is generally considered to be on the centre-left of Indian politics.[16] Congress' social policy is based upon the Gandhian principle of Sarvodaya—the lifting up of all sections of society—which involves the improvement of the lives of economically underprivileged and socially marginalised people.[17] The party primarily endorses social liberalism — seeking to balance individual liberty and social justice, and secularism — asserting the right to be free from religious rule and teachings.

After India's independence in 1947, Congress formed the central government of India, and many regional state governments.[18] Congress became India's dominant political party; as of 2015[update], in the 15 general elections since independence, it has won an outright majority on six occasions and has led the ruling coalition a further four times, heading the central government for 49 years. There have been seven Congress Prime Ministers, the first being Jawaharlal Nehru (1947–64), and the most recent Manmohan Singh (2004–14). Although it did not fare well in the last general elections in India in 2014, it remains one of two major, nationwide, political parties in India, along with the right-wing, Hindu nationalist, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).[e][19] In the 2014 general election, Congress had its poorest post-independence general election performance, winning only 44 seats of the 543-member Lok Sabha.

Pre-independence

First session of Indian National Congress, Bombay, 28–31 December 1885

Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn, in the late 1920s

Foundation

The Indian National Congress conducted its first session in Bombay from 28–31 December 1885 at the initiative of retired Civil service officerAllan Octavian Hume. In 1883, Hume had outlined his idea for a body representing Indian interests in an open letter to graduates of the University of Calcutta.[20] Its aim was to obtain a greater share in government for educated Indians, and to create a platform for civic and political dialogue between them and the British Raj. Hume took the initiative, and in March 1885 a notice convening the first meeting of the Indian National Union to be held in Poona the following December was issued.[21] Due to a cholera outbreak there, it was moved to Bombay.

Early years

Within the next few years, Congress' demands became more radical in the face of constant opposition from the British government, and the party decided to advocate in favour of the independence movement because it would allow a new political system in which Congress could be a major party. By 1905, a division opened between the moderates led by Gokhale, who downplayed public agitation, and the new "extremists" who advocated agitation, and regarded the pursuit of social reform as a distraction from nationalism. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who tried to mobilise Hindu Indians by appealing to an explicitly Hindu political identity displayed in the annual public Ganapati festivals he inaugurated in western India, was prominent among the extremists.[24]

Congress as a mass movement

Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915. With the help of the moderate group led by Ghokhale, Gandhi became president of Congress. After the First World War, the party became associated with Gandhi, who remained its unofficial spiritual leader and icon.[25] He formed an alliance with the Khilafat Movement in 1920 to fight for preservation of the Ottoman Caliphate, and rights for Indians using civil disobedience or satyagraha as the tool for agitation. In 1923, after the deaths of policemen at Chauri Chaura, Gandhi suspended the agitation. In protest, a number of leaders, Chittaranjan Das, Annie Besant, and Motilal Nehru, resigned to set up the Swaraj Party. The Khilafat movement collapsed and Congress was split.

At the Congress 1929 Lahore session under the presidency of Jawaharlal Nehru, Purna Swaraj (complete independence) was declared as the party's goal, declaring 26 January 1930 as "Purna Swaraj Diwas" - Independence Day. The same year, Srinivas Iyenger was expelled from the party for demanding full independence, not just home rule as demanded by Gandhi.[26]

After the passage of the Government of India Act of 1935, provincial elections were held in India in the winter of 1936–37 in eleven provinces: Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Assam, NWFP, Bengal, Punjab, and Sindh. After contesting these elections, the Indian National Congress gained power in eight of them except Bengal, Punjab, and Sindh. The All-India Muslim League failed to form a government in any province.[27] Congress ministries resigned in October and November 1939 in protest against Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's declaration that India was a belligerent in the Second World War without consulting the Indian people.[28]

In 1939, Subhas Chandra Bose, the elected president in both 1938 and 1939, resigned from Congress over the selection of the working committee. The party was not the sole representative of the Indian polity, other parties included the Hindu Mahasabha, and the Forward Bloc.[29] The party was an umbrella organisation, sheltering radical socialists, traditionalists, and Hindu and Muslim conservatives. Gandhi expelled all the socialist groupings, including the Congress Socialist Party, the Krishak Praja Party, and the Swarajya Party, along with Subhas Chandra Bose, in 1939.[25]

In 1946, the British tried the Indian soldiers who had fought alongside the Japanese during World War II in the INA trials. In response, Congress helped form the INA Defence Committee, which assembled a legal team to defend the case of the soldiers of the Azad Hind government. The team included several famous lawyers, including Bhulabhai Desai, Asaf Ali, and Jawaharlal Nehru.[32] The same year, Congress members initially supported the sailors who led the Royal Indian Navy mutiny, but they withdrew support at a critical juncture and the mutiny failed.[citation needed]

Post-independence

After Indian independence in 1947, the Indian National Congress became the dominant political party in the country. In 1952, in the first general election held after Independence, the party swept to power in the national parliament and most state legislatures. It held power nationally until 1977, when it was defeated by the Janata coalition. It returned to power in 1980 and ruled until 1989, when it was once again defeated. The party formed the government in 1991 at the head of a coalition, as well as in 2004 and 2009, when it led the United Progressive Alliance. During this period the Congress remained centre-left in its social policies while steadily shifting from a socialist to a neoliberal economic outlook. The Party's rivals at state level have been national parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), and various regional parties, such as the Telugu Desam Party.[citation needed]

Nehru/Shastri era (1947–66)

From 1951 until his death in 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru was Congress' paramount leader under the tutelage of Mahatma Gandhi, whose Indian independence movement dominated the party. Congress gained power in landslide victories in the general elections of 1951–52, 1957, and 1962.[36] During his tenure, Nehru implemented policies based on import substitution industrialisation, and advocated a mixed economy where the government-controlled public sector co-existed with the private sector.[37] He believed the establishment of basic and heavy industries was fundamental to the development and modernisation of the Indian economy.[36] The Nehru government directed investment primarily into key public sector industries — steel, iron, coal, and power — promoting their development with subsidies and protectionist policies.[37] Nehru embraced secularism, socialistic economic practices based on state-driven industrialisation, and a non-aligned and non-confrontational foreign policy that became typical of the modern Congress Party.[38] The policy of non-alignment during the Cold War meant Nehru received financial and technical support from both the Eastern and Western Blocs to build India's industrial base from nothing.[39][40]

During his period in office, there were four known assassination attempts on Nehru.[41] The first attempt on his life was during partition in 1947 while he was visiting the North-West Frontier Province in a car. The second was by a knife-wielding rickshaw-puller in Maharashtra in 1955.[42] A third attempt happened in Bombay in 1956.[43] The fourth was a failed bombing attempt on railway tracks in Maharashtra in 1961.[41] Despite threats to his life, Nehru despised having excess security personnel around him and did not like his movements to disrupt traffic.[41] In 1964, Nehru died because of an aortic dissection, raising questions about the party's future.[44][45][46]

After his death, K. Kamaraj became the president of the All India Congress Committee.[47] Kamaraj had also been involved in the Indian independence movement, and he introduced education to millions of rural poor by providing free education along with a free midday meal, when he was chief minister of Tamil Nadu (1954–63).[48]

The Madras anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 occurred during Shastri's tenure.[62][63] On 11 January 1966, a day after signing the Tashkent Declaration, Shastri died in Tashkent, reportedly of a heart attack; but the circumstances of his death remain mysterious.[64][65][66]

Indira era (1966–84)

After Shastri's death, Congress elected Indira Gandhi as leader over Morarji Desai. Once again, politician K. Kamaraj was instrumental in achieving this result. In 1967, following a poor performance in the general election, Indira Gandhi started moving towards the political left. In mid-1969, she was involved in a dispute with senior party leaders on a number of issues. The two major issues were Gandhi supporting the independent candidate, V.V. Giri, rather than the official Congress party candidate, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, for the vacant post of the President of India.[67][68] The second issue was Mrs. Gandhi's abrupt nationalization of the 14 biggest banks in India, which resulted in the resignation of the finance minister, Morarji Desai. Later in the year, the Congress party president, S. Nijalingappa, expelled her from the party for indiscipline.[69][70] Mrs. Gandhi as a counter-move launched her own faction of the INC. Mrs. Gandhi's faction, called Congress (R), was supported by most of the Congress MPs while the original party had the support of only 65 MPs.[71]

In the mid-term parliamentary elections held in 1971, the Gandhi-led Congress (R) Party won a landslide victory on a platform of progressive policies such as the elimination of poverty (Garibi Hatao).[72] The policies of the Congress (R) Party under Gandhi before the 1971 elections included proposals to abolish the Privy Purse to former rulers of the Princely states, and the 1969 nationalisation of India's 14 largest banks.[73]

Indira Gandhi, second-longest-serving Prime Minister of India and the only woman to hold the office

The New Congress Party's popular support began to wane in the mid-1970s. From 1975, Gandhi's government grew increasingly more authoritarian and unrest among the opposition grew. On 12 June 1975, the High Court of Allahabad declared Indira Gandhi's election to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's parliament, void on the grounds of electoral malpractice.[74] However, Gandhi rejected calls to resign and announced plans to appeal to the Supreme Court. She moved to restore order by ordering the arrest of most of the opposition participating in the unrest. In response to increasing disorder and lawlessness, Gandhi's cabinet and government recommended that President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed declare a State of Emergency, which he did on 25 June 1975 based on the provisions of Article 352 of the Constitution.[citation needed]

During the nineteen-month emergency, widespread oppression and abuse of power by Gandhi's unelected younger son and political heir Sanjay Gandhi and his close associates occurred.[75][76][77] This period of oppression ended on 23 January 1977, when Gandhi released all political prisoners and called fresh elections for the Lok Sabha to be held in March.[78] The Emergency officially ended on 23 March 1977.[79] In that month's parliamentary elections, the opposition Janata Party won a landslide victory over Congress, winning 295 seats in the Lok Sabha against Congress' 153. Gandhi lost her seat to her Janata opponent Raj Narain. On 2 January 1978, she and her followers seceded and formed a new opposition party, popularly called Congress (I)—the I signifying Indira. During the next year, her new party attracted enough members of the legislature to become the official opposition.[citation needed]

In November 1978, Gandhi regained a parliamentary seat. In January 1980, following a landslide victory for Congress (I), she was again elected prime minister.[80] The national election commission declared Congress (I) to be the real Indian National Congress for the 1984 general election, and the designation I was dropped.[81][82]

During Gandhi's new term as prime minister, her youngest son Sanjay died in an aeroplane crash in June 1980.[83][84] This led her to encourage her elder son Rajiv, who was working as a pilot, to enter politics. Gradually, Indira Gandhi's politics and outlook grew more authoritarian and autocratic, and she became the central figure within the Congress Party. As prime minister, she became known for her political ruthlessness and unprecedented centralisation of power.[citation needed]

Gandhi's term as prime minister also saw increasing turmoil in Punjab, with demands for Sikh autonomy by Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his militant followers.[85] In 1983, they headquartered themselves in the Golden Temple in Amritsar and started accumulating weapons.[86] In June 1984, after several futile negotiations, Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to enter the Golden Temple to establish control over the complex and remove Bhindranwale and his armed followers. This event is known as Operation Blue Star.[87]

On 31 October 1984, two of Gandhi's bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, shot her with their service weapons in the garden of the prime minister's residence in response to her authorisation of Operation Blue Star.[86] Gandhi was due to be interviewed by British actor Peter Ustinov, who was filming a documentary for Irish television.[88] Her assassination prompted the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, during which more than 3,000 people were killed.[89]

Rajiv Gandhi and Rao era (1985–98)

Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (1984–1989) and President of the Indian National Congress

In 1984, Indira Gandhi's son Rajiv Gandhi became nominal head of Congress, and went on to became prime minister upon her assassination.[90] In December, he led Congress to a landslide victory, where it secured 401 seats in the legislature.[91] His administration took measures to reform the government bureaucracy and liberalise the country's economy.[92] Rajiv Gandhi's attempts to discourage separatist movements in Punjab and Kashmir backfired. After his government became embroiled in several financial scandals, his leadership became increasingly ineffectual.[93] Gandhi was regarded as a non-abrasive person who consulted other party members and refrained from hasty decisions.[94] The Bofors scandal damaged his reputation as an honest politician, but he was posthumously cleared of bribery allegations in 2004.[95] On 21 May 1991, Gandhi was killed by a bomb concealed in a basket of flowers carried by a woman associated with the Tamil Tigers.[96] He was campaigning in Tamil Nadu for upcoming parliamentary elections. In 1998, an Indian court convicted 26 people in the conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi.[97] The conspirators, who consisted of Tamil militants from Sri Lanka and their Indian allies, had sought revenge against Gandhi because the Indian troops he sent to Sri Lanka in 1987 to help enforce a peace accord there had fought with Tamil separatist guerrillas.[98][99]

Rajiv Gandhi was succeeded as party leader by P. V. Narasimha Rao, who was elected prime minister in June 1991.[100] His rise to the prime ministership was politically significant because he was the first holder of the office from South India. His administration oversaw major economic change and experienced several home incidents that affected India's national security.[101] Rao, who held the Industries portfolio, was personally responsible for the dismantling of the Licence Raj, which came under the purview of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.[102] He is often called the "father of Indian economic reforms".[103][104]

Future prime ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh continued the economic reform policies begun by Rao's government. Rao accelerated the dismantling of the Licence Raj, reversing the socialist policies of previous governments.[105][106] He employed Manmohan Singh as his finance minister to begin a historic economic change. With Rao's mandate, Singh launched India's globalisation reforms that involved implementing International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies to prevent India's impending economic collapse.[102] Rao was also referred to as Chanakya for his ability to push tough economic and political legislation through the parliament while he headed a minority government.[107][108]

By 1996, the party's image was suffering from allegations of corruption, and in elections that year, Congress was reduced to 140 seats, its lowest number in the Lok Sabha to that point. Rao later resigned as prime minister and, in September, as party president.[109] He was succeeded as president by Sitaram Kesri, the party's first non-Brahmin leader.[110]

In the 1998 general election, Congress won 141 seats in the Lok Sabha, its lowest tally until then.[111] To boost its popularity and improve its performance in the forthcoming election, Congress leaders urged Sonia Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's widow, to assume leadership of the party. She had previously declined offers to become actively involved in party affairs, and had stayed away from politics. After her election as party leader, a section of the party that objected to the choice because of her Italian ethnicity broke away and formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Sharad Pawar. The breakaway faction commanded strong support in the state of Maharashtra and limited support elsewhere. The remainder continued to be known as the Indian National Congress.[112]

Sonia Gandhi's appointment initially failed to have an impact; in the snap polls called by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in 1999, Congress won 114 seats — its lowest tally ever. The leadership structure was unaltered and the party campaigned strongly in the assembly elections that followed. At these elections, the party was successful; at one point, Congress ruled 15 states.[citation needed] In the 2004 general election, Congress forged an alliance with several regional parties, including the NCP and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The party's campaign emphasised social inclusion and the welfare of common people, contrasting with the NDA's "India Shining" campaign that sought to highlight the successes of the NDA government in making India into a "modern nation".[citation needed] The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won 222 seats in the new parliament, defeating the NDA by a substantial margin. With the support of the communist front, Congress won a majority and formed the new government. Despite massive support from within the party, Gandhi declined the post of prime minister, choosing to appoint Manmohan Singh instead. She remained as party president and headed the National Advisory Council (NAC).[113]

During its first term in office, the UPA government passed several social reform bills. These included an employment guarantee bill, the Right to Information Act, and a right to education act. The NAC, as well as the Left Front that supported the government from the outside, were widely seen as being the driving force behind such legislation. The Left Front withdrew its support of the government over disagreements about the U.S.–India Civil Nuclear Agreement. Despite the effective loss of 62 seats in parliament, the government survived the trust vote that followed.[114] In the Lok Sabha elections held soon after, Congress won 207 seats, the highest tally of any party since 1991. The UPA as a whole won 262, enabling it to form the government for the second time. The social welfare policies of the first UPA government, and the perceived divisiveness of the BJP, are broadly credited for the victory.[115]

By the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party had lost much of its popular support, mainly because of several years of poor economic conditions in the country, and growing discontent over a series of corruption allegations involving government officials, including the 2G spectrum case and the Indian coal allocation scam.[116][117] Congress won only 44 seats,[118] which was its worst-ever performance in a national election and brought into question whether it would continue to be identified as an officially recognised party.[119]

Election symbols

Election symbol of Indira's Congress (R) party during the period 1971-1977

As of 2014, the election symbol of Congress, as approved by the Election Commission of India, is an image of a right hand with its palm facing front and its fingers pressed together;[120] this is usually shown in the centre of a tricolor flag. The hand symbol was first used by Indira Gandhi when she split from the Congress (R) faction following the 1977 elections and created the New Congress (I).[121]

The symbol of the original Congress during elections held between 1952 and 1971 was an image of two bullocks with a plough.[122] The symbol of Indira's Congress (R) during the 1971–77 period was a cow with a suckling calf.[123]

Current structure and composition

Congress is structured in a hierarchical manner, and the organisational structure, created by Mohandas Gandhi's re-arrangement of the party between 1918 and 1920, has been largely retained.[citation needed][124] A president and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) are elected by delegates from state and district parties at an annual national conference; in every Indian state and union territory — or pradesh — there is a Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), which is the state-level unit of the party responsible for directing political campaigns at local and state levels, and assisting the campaigns for parliamentary constituencies.[citation needed].[125] Each PCC has a working committee of twenty members, most of whom are appointed by the party president, the leader of the state party, who is chosen by the prime minister. Those elected as members of the states' legislative assemblies form the Congress Legislature Parties in the various state assemblies; their chairperson is usually the party's nominee for Chief Ministership. The party is also organised into various committees, and sections; it publishes a daily newspaper, the National Herald.[126] Despite being a party with a structure, Congress under Indira did not hold any organizational elections after 1972.[127]

The AICC is composed of delegates sent from the PCCs.[126] The delegates elect Congress committees, including the Congress Working Committee, consisting of senior party leaders and office bearers. The AICC takes all important executive and political decisions.[125] Since Indira Gandhi formed Congress (I) in 1978, the President of the Indian National Congress has effectively been: the party's national leader, head of the organisation, head of the Working Committee and all chief Congress committees, chief spokesman, and Congress' choice for Prime Minister of India. Constitutionally, the president is elected by the PCCs and members of the AICC; however, this procedure has often been by-passed by the Working Committee, which has elected its own candidate.[126]

Throughout much of the Cold War period, Congress supported a foreign policy of nonalignment that called for India to form ties with both the Western and Eastern Blocs, but to avoid formal alliances with either.[citation needed] American support for Pakistan led the party to endorse a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union in 1971.[citation needed] In 2004, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance came to power, its chairperson Sonia Gandhi unexpectedly relinquished the premiership to Manmohan Singh. This Singh-led "UPA I" government executed several key pieces of legislation and projects, including the Rural Health Mission, Unique Identification Authority, the Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, and the Right to Information Act.[citation needed]

Economic policy

Congress endorses a mixed economy in which the private sector and the state direct the economy, reflecting characteristics of both market economies and planned economies. The modern Congress advocates import substitution industrialisation — the replacement of foreign imports with domestic products. The party also believes mixed economies are likely to protect the environment, standardise the welfare system, and maintain employment standards and competition.[citation needed] Congress also believes the Indian economy should be liberalised to increase the pace of development. In 2005, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh introduced a value-added tax, which replaced the sales tax, and has continued the Golden Quadrilateral and the highway modernisation program that was initiated by Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government. In 2009, India achieved its highest GDP growth rate of 9%, becoming the second-fastest growing major economy in the world.[131]

Healthcare and education

In 2005, the Congress-led government started the National Rural Health Mission, which employed about 500,000 community health workers. It was praised by American economist Jeffrey Sachs.[132] In 2006, it implemented a proposal to reserve 27% of seats in the All India Institute of Medical Studies (AIIMS), the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and other central higher education institutions, for Other Backward Classes, which led to the 2006 Indian anti-reservation protests.[citation needed] The Singh government also continued the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme, which includes the introduction and improvement of mid-day school meals and the opening of new schools throughout India, especially in rural areas, to fight illiteracy.[133] During Manmohan Singh's prime-ministership, eight Institutes of Technology were opened in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh.[134]

Foreign policy

Congress has continued the foreign policy started by P. V. Narasimha Rao. This includes the peace process with Pakistan, and the exchange of high-level visits by leaders from both countries.[137] The party has tried to end the border dispute with the People's Republic of China through negotiations.[138][139]Relations with Afghanistan have also been a concern for Congress.[140] During Afghan President Hamid Karzai's visit to New Delhi in August 2008, Manmohan Singh increased the aid package to Afghanistan for the development of schools, health clinics, infrastructure, and defence.[141] India is now one of the single largest aid donors to Afghanistan.[141]

Congress' policy has been to cultivate friendly relations with Japan as well as European Union countries including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.[143] Diplomatic relations with Iran have continued, and negotiations over the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline have taken place.[144] In April 2006, New Delhi hosted an India–Africa summit attended by the leaders of 15 African states.[145] Congress' policy has also been to improve relations with other developing countries, particularly Brazil and South Africa.[146]

Presence in various states

Current ruling parties in the states and union territories of India

BJP

Coalition with BJP

INC

Coalition with INC

Other parties

As of December 2017, Congress is in power in the states of Punjab, Karnataka, Meghalaya, and Mizoram, where the party has majority support. In Puducherry it shares power with alliance partners. Previously, Congress governed Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Manipur.

References

Notes

^"The first modern nationalist movement to arise in the non-European empire, and one that became an inspiration for many others, was the Indian Congress."[12]

^"South Asian parties include several of the oldest in the post-colonial world, foremost among them the 129-year-old Indian National Congress that led India to independence in 1947"[14]

^"The organization that led India to independence, the Indian National Congress, was established in 1885."[15]

^"... anti-colonial movements ... which, like many other nationalist movements elsewhere in the empire, were strongly infuenced by the Indian National Congress."[12]

^"During the first five decades of India's independence, the left-of-center, secular Indian National Congress (INC) and its factions have ruled almost continuously ... While the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ...[19]

^"Indian National Congress, Political Party, India". Encyclopaedia Britannica.Missing or empty |url= (help);|access-date= requires |url= (help)Quote: "broadly based political party of India. Formed in 1885, the Indian National Congress dominated the Indian movement for independence from Great Britain. It subsequently formed most of India’s governments from the time of independence and often had a strong presence in many state governments."